The class were also the most numerous of the family, providing the backbone of the Deutsche Bundesbahn's main-line diesel locomotive traction from the 1970s up to the reunification of Germany.

[2] With a power of 2500 to 2800 hp and a top speed of 140 km/h, and the ability to work in multiple with related classes 215, 216, 217 and 218 as well as other classes, and coupled with electric heating and a low speed gear for heavier freight trains the locomotives became the main source of motive power in West Germany on both passenger and freight trains outside electrified sections.

The turn of the second millennium and the preceding few years saw a change from locomotive hauled trains to increasing use of 'diesel railcars' (or DMUs, diesel multiple units).

The design of the series as fundamentally the same as the rest of the V 160 family: all four axles are driven via cardan shafts by a Voith[note 1] two speed hydraulic transmission which in turn is driven by a diesel engine, fuel and oil are located between the bogies under the main frame, on either side of the centrally located transmission, there are two cabs (which have slightly different windows).

Over time, several diesel engines have been used as propulsion; the first series received the MA MTU 12V 956 TB10 with 2,500 hp (1,900 kW) Because of the available power at rail being reduced when operating at full electric heating power some machines were fitted with a French 16 Pielstick PA4 V200 engine with around 2,700 horsepower (2,000 kW) built under license by KHD.

As an oddity 218 473 was, for four years from April 2005 onwards, painted in a dark blue "King Ludwig" livery, sponsored by model train manufacturer Märklin.

Between the stations of Nauen and 'Berlin Zoological Gardens' the route was only partially electrified; in this electrification gap the train (complete with a DB Class 120 E-Lok) was towed by the diesels.

15 locomotives were converted (in Bremen) for towing and shunting tasks - being fitted with a Scharfenberg coupler for modern coaching stock, they are used on the S-Bahn networks; found in all the major railway stations.

Furthermore, after the dissolution of the GDR, and the merging of the two German railway systems they proved useful again on non-electrified sections of the former Deutsche Reichsbahn, however in the former West Germany some intercity services began to be operated by the DB Class 232 and 234 locomotives.

The locomotives were stationed in the depots of Regensburg, Stendal, Lübeck, Brunswick, Ulm, Hagen, Mühldorf, Karlsruhe, Rostock Hbf, Kempten, Halting and Kaiserslautern.